The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-07-06
VANDERBILTS AT REST.
HOW THE MILLIoNAIRE'S MAUSO-
LEUM IS CARED FOR.


The Interest on 100000 Annually
Spent in Keeping Ono Grave Green
The Quiet Resting Place of the Old
Commodore, the, Founder of the Co
lossal Vanderbilt Fortune An I'm
visited Tomb.
From, the Nesg York World.
Stone is not security; iron is not protec-
ton, and monumental walls are not unas-
sailable to the craft and spirit of the age.
At least SO the Vanderbilts seem to think.
After spending fortune for tomb, detec-
tives are still kept constantly on duty to
guard the bones of the dead king
William II. Vanderbilt died year and
half ago, yet there is no rest for the living
kindred or safety for his ashes. 1t seems to
have been his ambition in life to erect a
mausoleum for himself and family which
should be the wonder of lineage and perfect
ly secure from pillage. Mans ingenuity has
been exhausted in that behalf, yet the gran
lite and iron that have been piled up by the
cunning hand of the architect to make a
shapely and slightly building, and one that
would be proof against assault, are night
and day under the surveillance Of hired po-
icemen. The tomb and its surroundings
make a sight so suggestive that it is worthy
of careful study.
To see this perplexing evidence of the
power of great wealth one takes ship at the
Battery and sails over that wonderful
threshold of New York's crown and glory
the bay-to the quiet shades of Staten
Island. There he can study a lesson that
will do more to recommend his poverty to
the poor man and his cares and tolls to the
struggler than all the sermons of the pulpits
Or all the precepts of Henry George
The fruitful text can be found at New
Dorp and about the rolling acres where the
Vanderbilt race began in this country and is
to be perpetuated in 'storied urn and ami
mated bust" The consecrated pile dedi-
Gated to the arbiter of millions is perhaps a
mile or more from the quaint Dutch settle
neut of the States Island railroad where you
leave the train. Nature herself has done
much to make the place all that the immor-
tai yearnings Of even kings could have de-
sired, but the hand of man has fashioned
and is fashioning there something that puz-
ZleS even the philosopher, earnest student or
thoughtful men of every kind
Nowhere else in the land is there q sepul-
chre so grandiose and significant. Half a
million dollars for tomb! That is the sum
that the heirs of the modern CrCeSuS have
set aside to carry out the will of the man
who once commanded hundreds of millions.
Yet all night and all day men well drilled
and well armed watch over this huge granite
pile and its Wondering contents. A sentry
box stands near this grand receptacle for the
dead-an amazing comment on the peace
and sanctity of the place The men are
kept on guard and worked like soldiers. In
addition to these human vigils, system of
signals or burglar alarms is added which
penetrate many parts OF the grounds. At
stated intervals these are set off by the sin
gle man on his six hours turn of duty, and
the reserve rapidly assemblies at a given
point. 1t is not dress parade, but sort of
drill, that the chief detective eXacts of the
men whom he hires to guard this mausoleum
from pillage At night the watch is even
more vigilant. When darkness brings
greater danger from those who would steal
the body for a ransom powerful flame is
lighted in the cupola, which shines out over
the humble graveyard below ana off upon
the waters. Into this dome one of the de-
tectives must go every half hour and touch
another alarm, which records the fidelity of
those on watch. Every twelve hours the
chief enters the building to see from this
new electric register whether each man on
duty during the night has gone his rounds
at the prescribed moment. This caution
against theft provokes many interesting re-
fections.
The cost of guarding the remains of Mr.
Vanderbilt amounts to a small fortune each
year. The interest on the $500, 900 said to
have been expended on the twenty-one acres
of ground and the mortuary edifice which
adorns it is a big item Add to this at least
$50 day for the detective guard which is
kept constantly on duty and it foots up a
total of $50, 900 year of outlay to keep at
rest the ashes of one man.
The place, its surroundings, the guard and
the other curious evidences of a new fash
ion about graveyards since great wealth has
made men avaricious to the criminal point,
all suggest thought of our new tendencies.
This ostentatious memoraial to money get
ting stands on the brow of hill which rolls
away on everyside into acres of lovely per-
spective and miles of ocean view. As you
stand at the base of Croesus' tomb the
waters of the bay stretch away on every
hand. Nothing could be lovelier than the
horizon of palepink and blue, the purpling
waters and the glittering foliage that cur
tains the gentle slope of the hillside where
Flutus is enshrined. From the very point
where the grounds begin which belong to the
Vanderbilt family the country graveyard
trends downward to the roadway. Within
its Enclosure is a modest old-fashioned
church, gray with age 1t was built before
the present century, and the Vanderbilts
were, in their poorest as well as richest
Gays, It's Cnlef patrons. IL Is as nearly
Gothic in build as the purses of the Mora
Wan deacons would permit. Picturesque
and pleasant TO the eye, its rests among the
soft outlines of natures fanciful fashioning.
1t recalls old st. Davids at Radnor, so
pleasantly pictured in Longfellow's charm
ing verses:
What an image of peace and rest
Is this little church among its graves
But now this is not temple amid hum
BILE surroundings, for the great tomb frowns
upon 1t from the top of the hill, an arrogant
reflex of the new conditions that have in
vaded the homely wayside After all, there
are many compensations for the poor II is
not the grandeur of this mausoeum that inn
presses you A study Of its fair proportions
does not long remain in tho memory.
1t is the thing COMMUNICATED that
fingers in the mind, and not the
manner Of commemoration. 1t is
what this remarkable display of wealth i'll
a tomb means to mankind that makes a visit
to it fruitful. There is much in the fact
that after exhausting all that human en-
deavor could do in the way of security to
the ashes Of the dead that watchers have to
be set to keep guard over the strongest
sepulchre that the ingenuity OF man could
devise. The ingenuity OF man also has to
be invoked to certify TO the devotion of the
men whom money hires to do this singular
duty.
As / looked upon the scene at and about
the tomb the apparitiOn of several men,